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Kellogg-Briand Pact Timeline

(1928)

The Kellogg-Briand Pact was an international agreement signed in Paris in 1928 by 15 nations, later joined by most others, in which signatories renounced war as an instrument of national policy. Though it failed to prevent World War II, it established a foundation for modern international law against aggressive war. Less

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Creation and Signing

Kellogg–Briand Pact proposed

1928

The Kellogg–Briand Pact, officially the General Treaty for Renunciation of War as an Instrument of National Policy, was drafted as a 1928 international agreement on peace in which signatory states promised not to use war to resolve 'disputes or conflicts of whatever nature or of whatever origin they may be, which may arise among them'.

Image source: Kellogg–Briand Pact

Kellogg–Briand Pact proposed

Pact concluded outside the League of Nations

1928

The 1928 Kellogg–Briand Pact was concluded outside the League of Nations, making it an independent international agreement. Remarkably, it remains in effect to this day.

Image source: League of Nations

Pact concluded outside the League of Nations

Pact signed in Paris by Germany, France, and the United States

Aug 27, 1928

The pact was first signed on 27 August 1928 in Paris at the French Foreign Ministry by the representatives from Australia, Belgium, Canada, Czechoslovakia, France, Germany, the United Kingdom, India, the Irish Free State, Italy, Japan, New Zealand, Poland, South Africa, and the United States. Most other states signed soon after.

Ratification and Expansion

Twelve additional parties join the pact

1929 - Dec 31, 1929

After the pact took effect, twelve additional parties joined: Persia, Greece, Honduras, Chile, Luxembourg, Danzig, Costa Rica, Mexico, Venezuela, Paraguay, Switzerland and the Dominican Republic, bringing the total to 57 state parties by 1929.

Litvinov Protocol signed in Moscow

Feb 9, 1929

With the signing of the Litvinov Protocol in Moscow on February 9, 1929, the Soviet Union and its western neighbors, including Romania, agreed to put the Kellogg–Briand Pact in effect without waiting for other western signatories to ratify.

Image source: Litvinov Protocol

Litvinov Protocol signed in Moscow

Pact takes effect

Jul 24, 1929

The Kellogg–Briand Pact formally took effect on 24 July 1929 after sufficient ratifications had been deposited.

Six more states join between 1930 and 1934

1930 - 1934

Six states joined the pact between 1930 and 1934: Haiti, Colombia, Saudi Arabia, Ecuador, Iraq and Brazil, further expanding its membership around the world.

Impact on Warfare

Japanese invasion of Manchuria without declaration of war

Sep 18, 1931

The pact helped erase the legal distinction between war and peace, because signatories having renounced war began waging wars without declaring them, as in the Japanese invasion of Manchuria in 1931.

Image source: Japanese invasion of Manchuria

Japanese invasion of Manchuria without declaration of war

Italian invasion of Abyssinia

Oct 3, 1935

Italy, a signatory of the pact, invaded Abyssinia (Ethiopia) in 1935 without a formal declaration of war, illustrating how signatories waged undeclared wars after renouncing war as an instrument of national policy.

Image source: Second Italo-Ethiopian War

Italian invasion of Abyssinia

Pact unable to prevent the Second World War

1939 - 1945

Despite the sweeping renunciation of war, the Kellogg–Briand Pact was unable to prevent the Second World War, which devastated much of the globe between 1939 and 1945.

Image source: World War II

Pact unable to prevent the Second World War

German and Soviet invasions of Poland; Free City of Danzig ceases to exist

Sep 1, 1939

Germany and the Soviet Union invaded Poland without declarations of war consistent with the pact's erosion of legal distinctions. The Free City of Danzig, which had joined the Pact in 1929, ceased to exist in 1939 and became a regular part of Poland after World War II.

Image source: Invasion of Poland

German and Soviet invasions of Poland; Free City of Danzig ceases to exist

Soviet invasion of Finland

Nov 30, 1939

The Soviet Union, bound by the pact, invaded Finland in 1939 without declaring war, further demonstrating the erosion of the legal distinction between war and peace among signatories.

Image source: Winter War

Soviet invasion of Finland

Legacy and Accessions

Decline of declared wars after 1945

1945

Furthermore, declared wars became very rare after 1945, a striking shift attributed in part to the norm against conquest established by the Kellogg–Briand Pact.

Conquests decline from one per ten months to one per four years

1945

Hathaway and Shapiro show that between 1816 and 1928 there was on average one military conquest every ten months. After 1945, in very sharp contrast, the number of such conflicts declined to one in every four years.

Wars between established states become rare since 1945

1945

Although civil wars continued, wars between established states have been rare since 1945, with a few major exceptions such as the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971 and various conflicts in the Middle East.

Trials and execution of German wartime leaders

1946

Although the pact failed to prevent war, it provided the legal basis for the postwar trials and execution of German wartime leaders in 1946, giving the renunciation of war practical juridical significance.

Image source: Nuremberg trials

Trials and execution of German wartime leaders

Barbados accedes to the treaty

1971

After the Second World War, Barbados declared its accession to the Kellogg–Briand Pact in 1971, showing the treaty's continuing relevance decades after its signing.

Image source: Barbados

Barbados accedes to the treaty

Fiji accedes to the treaty

1973

Fiji declared its accession to the Kellogg–Briand Pact in 1973, following Barbados's accession two years earlier.

Image source: Fiji

Fiji accedes to the treaty

Antigua and Barbuda, and Dominica accede to the treaty

1988

In 1988, both Antigua and Barbuda and Dominica declared their accession to the Kellogg–Briand Pact, continuing the pattern of new states joining the long-standing agreement.

Image source: Antigua and Barbuda

Antigua and Barbuda, and Dominica accede to the treaty

Slovenia accedes following dissolution of Yugoslavia

1992

As a result of the dissolution of Yugoslavia, Slovenia declared its accession to the Kellogg–Briand Pact in 1992.

Image source: Slovenia

Slovenia accedes following dissolution of Yugoslavia

Czech Republic and Slovakia accede after Czechoslovakia dissolves

1993

After Czechoslovakia dissolved in 1993, both the Czech Republic and Slovakia declared their accession to the Kellogg–Briand Pact as successor states.

Image source: Dissolution of Czechoslovakia

Czech Republic and Slovakia accede after Czechoslovakia dissolves

Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Croatia accede to the treaty

1994

As a result of the dissolution of Yugoslavia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia declared their accession to the Kellogg–Briand Pact in 1994, completing the succession of Yugoslav successor states into the treaty.

Image source: Croatia

Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Croatia accede to the treaty

Key Facts

  1. The pact was proposed by French Foreign Minister Aristide Briand and U.S. Secretary of State Frank B. Kellogg.
  2. It was signed on August 27, 1928, by fifteen nations in Paris, including the United States, France, Great Britain, Germany, Italy, and Japan.
  3. Eventually, more than 60 nations signed the pact, renouncing war as a tool of national policy.
  4. The pact had no enforcement mechanism, which limited its effectiveness and failed to prevent World War II.
  5. Its principles were later incorporated into the United Nations Charter and influenced post-war legal concepts like crimes against peace.

Source

This Kellogg-Briand Pact timeline was generated with the help of AI, using information found on the internet.

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